In Their Bag

Reed Sheppard

With Fred VanVleet out the whole year with a torn ACL, Reed Sheppard is finally starting to get consistent minutes, and he’s been delivering. He just scored a career-high 27 points yesterday on an efficient 9 for 13 from the field, including 5 for 8 from three, while only committing one turnover. Reed Sheppard has also looked very comfortable coming off ball screens. Most of the time, whenever Reed Sheppard is ball handling on a screen, the big doesn’t roll, giving Sheppard room to operate. He’s been very good at coming tight off these screens, then attacking the open lane and making the right read. Whether it’s getting all the way to the cup and finishing, kicking the ball out, or hitting a cutter. With all this being said, he hasn’t been passive either. Watching him play, you can see he’s looking for his shot, off a screen, or a swing pass. Hunting for his shot from deep, but also from the paint. While doing all this, he’s only averaging 0.4 more turnovers from last year, when he averaged nearly half as many minutes. The Rockets have found themselves another gem who will be a huge contributor for them moving forward.

Bag Lookin Shallow

LaMelo Ball

Something’s going on with LaMelo in Charlotte. Through his first 4 games of the season, he averaged 26 points per game, similar to his average from last year. Since then, he’s averaged 18 points per game on worse efficiency. Not to mention he’s already missed 6 games this season due to a right ankle sprain. There have also been recent reports on the Hornets being open to trade LaMelo, and them being more and more hesitant to see him as a future foundational piece of the team because of his injury issues. There have also been rumors about LaMelo Ball being open to a trade and being frustrated in Charlotte. Though LaMelo has denied these reports, who truly knows what’s happening behind closed doors? LaMelo Ball has only had one season where he’s played more than 65 games, and the Hornets have never even sniffed a playoff spot with him. Don’t be surprised if the Hornets deal him at the deadline, or perhaps even sooner.

No Bag

Los Angeles Clippers

Damn. I feel bad for Clippers fans. It was 6 seasons ago you guys signed the best free agent in the world, someone who was just coming off the best season of his career, leading his team to the championship while winning Finals MVP. You also traded for another superstar wing, someone who just finished 3rd in MVP voting, averaged 28 ppg, and was one of the best on both sides of the ball. Now that the guy who finished 3rd in MVP voting is long gone, and that former Finals MVP has only had one healthy season since. Because of all this transpiring, the Clippers traded for James Harden and dealt two first-round picks, two pick swaps, and two seconds. Then, this offseason, they signed Bradley Beal, Chris Paul, and Brook Lopez. Three aging veterans who are out of their prime. Beal has been a shell of his former self and is now out for the remainder of the year due to injury. CP3 is only averaging 2.5 points per game, and Lopez is only averaging 6.4 points per game along with only 2.5 rebounds per game. This has all resulted in the Clippers sitting at 13th in the West and 1-9 in their last 10 games. The worst part about it, their first-round pick goes to the Thunder this year due to that trade from half a decade ago for Paul George. The Clippers aren’t looking good right now, and they’re going to have to turn things around quickly because they can’t afford to be bad and just waste a season.